Puppy. Quentin Mosely hates his nickname. He might be the youngest member of the Dawg motorcycle gang, but he's a grown male, one who's thinking about mating. Unfortunately, the female his tail is wagging for is the new librarian, and a human. Knowing a human/shifter relationship rarely succeeds, Quentin spends his days gazing hopelessly through the library windows at the luscious black woman.

Carly. Carlisle Brothers has the hots for teacher -- even if he is ten years her junior! She's moved to Barkus, Kansas -- the absolute middle of nowhere -- chasing peace and finds it in this back-of-beyond town. It's a slice of heaven... or it would be, if not for being overrun with prairie dogs. Still, she'd gladly put up with the little rodents if that sexy schoolteacher Quentin Mosely would teach her the ABC's of love. Unfortunately, she's an old-fashioned kind of gal, uncomfortable with making the first move -- especially on a younger man. That's up to him.

It'll take a determined matchmaker, a summer storm, a missing baby, a huge misunderstanding and a sheriff with handcuffs to set these two stumbling lovers on the path to each other.

Excerpt:

Unedited excerpt of DT: Puppy Dawg(c) 2009 Camille Anthony

How it all began…Quentin Mosely braced his paws against the glass and peered through thebottom window of the library, the only one he could reach in his present form. Sneakingaway to ogle the new librarian was insane. He’d seen her from afar and liked what hesaw, but ever since their lunch meeting to plan a fieldtrip for his English class, he’dbeen unable to get the luscious black woman off his mind.

Third period Math had been a bitch. The unruly pups, along with the few human students that attended Barkus Elementary, had played him for his lapse. He’d get back at them with a surprise quiz, but right now, none of that mattered.

Quentin couldn’t understand this driven need to enact the Prairie Dawg version of a peeping Tom. He only knew he had to see her, smell her, be as close to her as hecould get. His nose twitched, trying to catch a sniff of her through the glass.Carly, Carly, Carly…Her name -- full of fun and curves -- was like a mantra chanted in his mind. Hel iked wrapping his human tongue around the syllables. He liked the way she looked,too. From her pretty dark brown eyes that seemed to be always smiling, to the round,compact shape she carried with a serene acceptance he’d rarely noted among humans.

He leaned closer to the window.

God, he wanted to touch that full head of fluffy black kinky twists falling to her gently sloping shoulders, softening the lines of her round face. Her dark, creamysmooth skin -- reminding him of rich loamy prairie dirt after a spring rain -- stretchedacross wide cheekbones. Freckles dotted the flat bridge of her wide, button nose. He justknew she was ripe for burrowing into. What he wouldn’t give to explore her fertile field, dig deep in her dark tunnels. If only she wasn’t human…

“Puppy, is that you?”

Quentin froze. He knew that voice.

“What the hell are you doing skulking around the library in dawg form? Youknow this part of town isn’t familiar with our… peculiar traits.”

Looking way up, he sighed to see Logan Smith staring down at him, his lovelyfiancée, Kaylee, hanging on his arm. Damn it, being found this way, by this particulargossipy dawg, was the last thing Quentin needed. He was never going to live thisdown.

“Hi, Mr. Mosely. What are you looking at?” Kaylee peered over his head into thelarge main area of the library. Her eyes widened. “Oh, I see!”

Logan wasn’t looking in the window. He was focused on Quentin. “Puppy, whatare you thinking, running around town in your natural shape? Someone’s gonna stepon you, if you’re not careful.”

Quentin resented Logan’s interference. Just because he was the youngestmember of the biker group that hung out at the Prairie Dawg Saloon didn’t give Logan the right to treat him like a baby. He wasn’t a child, damn it.

Kaylee aimed a light slap at her boyfriend’s arm, laughing. “Logan, it’s obvious what he’s doing. He has the hots for the new librarian!”

Incensed, Quentin chittered at Kaylee, baring his teeth in frustration. Her soft laughter made him want to sink lower than a field mouse, but while he battled with his embarrassment, he couldn’t help noticing his lack of sexual response to her. Once, he’d thought about challenging Logan for a chance at her, but no longer. The realization was sobering.

Quentin turned his head and stared, really giving Kaylee a good once-over. Shewas just as pretty as before, though now she was mated with Logan she no longer gave off those “fuck me” vibes. That should be it, but Quentin didn’t think so. His nose had latched on to something -- someone -- a whole lot sweeter to him than the half-breedshifter.

No. Impossible.

The librarian wasn’t one of them. She wasn’t a shifter. Why was heharboring thoughts of mating when nothing permanent could come of thisinappropriate attraction?

Sure, the rare human was okay finding out their lover was a shifter, but mostcouldn’t handle it. Also, cross-species romances weren’t easy. Just look what happenedto poor Blake -- Kaylee’s father -- turned into road-kill trying to get back to his humanmate. The outside world was hard on prairie dog shifters.